Powered by Blogger.
RSS

You can replace this text by going to "Layout" and then "Page Elements" section. Edit " About "

LIVE tv

Radio and Television Remote Control * ">

Radio and Television Remote Control *

Highlights..........

U.S. says it won't go beyond U.N. mandate

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Fresh off a "successful start" against Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses and ground troops, U.S. officials Sunday said they are being careful not to go beyond mandates in the United Nations Security Council resolution.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned against widening the current coalition operations to include a direct attack on Gadhafi.
Anything that goes beyond enforcement of the no-fly zone and prevention of new military attacks on rebels risks disrupting the "very diverse coalition" that agreed to the attacks, Gates said.
The Libyan military on Sunday called an immediate cease-fire after allied forces pounded one of its convoys near Benghazi and, according to U.S. officials, significantly degraded the regime's air defenses.
"We are not going after Gadhafi," U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said at a Pentagon press briefing. "Regime forces are more pressed and less free to maneuver."
Asked about reports of smoking rise from the area of Gadhafi's palace, Gortney said, "We are not targeting his residence."
Gunfire could be heard in Tripoli early Monday.
Despite Libyan government contentions that women, children and clerics have died in allied attacks, Gortney and other officials said that's not the case.
"We have no indication of any civilian casualties," the admiral said.
The alliance of U.S., European and Arab countries likely won't rely on the word of the Libyan military, which according to its spokesman Milad al Fuqhi, "issued command to all military units to safeguard immediate cease-fire everywhere."
"As with previous cease-fire announcements, we have to wait and see if it's genuine," U.S. Africa Command spokesman Vince Crawley told CNN. "We urge the Libyan government to do everything it can to demonstrate its sincerity."
Gates said there are other options to assist opposition fighters beyond arming them, including pressuring the government with political and economic sanctions.
Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa told reporters before an emergency meeting Sunday that what is happening in Libya is different from what was intended by imposing a no-fly zone, according to Egypt's state-run Ahram newspaper.
"What we want is the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians," Moussa said, adding that "military operations may not be needed in order to protect the civilians."
But Arab League chief of staff Hisham Youssef said Moussa's comments did not signify a shift by the organization.
"The Arab League position has not changed. We fully support the implementation of a no-fly zone," Youssef said. "Our ultimate aim is to end the bloodshed and achieve the aspirations of the Libyan people."
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told CNN that Gadhafi forces have shown little ability to counter coalition firepower.
Allied aircraft struck a Misrata area airport that has both civilian and military uses, said Gortney.
Three B-2 bombers struck only military positions at the airfield, he said.
There was violence across the country Sunday, with Gadhafi apparently shelling rebels in the west while allied airstrikes destroyed one of Gadhafi's convoys in the east.
As of Sunday night local time, the United States and British military had fired a total of 124 Tomahawk missiles at Libya's air defense sites, Gortney said.
U.S. fires missiles on Libya
Gadhafi responds to air strikes
Warplane falls from sky
Libya cease-fire ignored

Gadhafi had said the strikes were a confrontation between the Libyan people and "the new Nazis," and promised "a long-drawn war."
"You have proven to the world that you are not civilized, that you are terrorists -- animals attacking a safe nation that did nothing against you," Gadhafi had said in an earlier televised speech.
Gadhafi did not appear on screen during his address, leading CNN's Nic Robertson in Tripoli to speculate that the Libyan leader did not want to give the allies clues about his location.
Throughout the address, an image of a golden fist crushing a model plane that said "USA" filled the screen -- a monument in Tripoli to the 1986 American bombing of Libya, in which one U.S. plane was downed.
At the same time Gadhafi spoke, his regime was shelling Misrata using tanks, artillery and cannons, a witness said.
"They are destroying the city," said the witness, who is not being identified for safety reasons. He said rebels were fighting back.
Sounds of heavy gunfire could be heard during a telephone conversation with the man. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Meanwhile, a senior doctor at the medical center in Benghazi confirmed Sunday that 95 people were killed and an unknown number injured in Saturday's assault on the city by pro-Gadhafi forces. Doctors there also reported a shortage of supplies, especially emergency supplies.
French Defense Minister Thierry Burkhard said the coalition's aim continues to be support for the civilians.
On Sunday, the French forces did not open fire at all because it was not necessary, he said. The previous day, French planes fired and hit four tanks.
CNN's Arwa Damon saw outside Benghazi the remains of a convoy of at least 70 military vehicles destroyed by multiple airstrikes Sunday, leaving at least five charred bodies, plus twisted tanks and smashed trucks as far as she could see.
Rebels with Damon told her it was a convoy of Libyan troops loyal to Gadhafi coming to attack Benghazi.
The no-fly zone is effectively already in place, Mullen said on CNN's "State of the Union," adding that air attacks by coalition forces have taken out most of Libya's air defense systems and some airfields.
The international military coalition targeted air defense positions near the capital, Tripoli, for a second day Sunday.
A spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign Office said that for the no-fly zone to be enforced, it was necessary to target Libyan air defenses.
"Unlike Gadhafi, the coalition is not attacking civilians," the spokesperson said. "All missions are meticulously planned to ensure every care is taken to avoid civilian casualties. We will continue to work with our Arab partners to enforce the resolution for the good of the Libyan people."
At least one Arab nation, Qatar, is making direct contributions to the allied airstrikes. The country made available four fighter planes, the French foreign minister said.
Some Libyans welcomed the American, French and British military forces.
Others remained fearful of Gadhafi.
Libyans are "afraid to come out because when they do, he attacked them very, very severely," a woman in Tripoli said Sunday. "This is putting terror in all neighborhoods."
In a statement broadcast on state TV Saturday, Gadhafi's military said the strikes killed 48 people --"mostly women, children and religious clerics." CNN could not immediately verify the claim.
Russia said Sunday that innocent civilians were being killed, and urged more caution.
The Foreign Ministry in Moscow cited reports that "nonmilitary" targets were being bombed, including a cardiac center.
China's foreign ministry said Sunday that it did not agree with the use of force in international relations. And Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also denounced the military intervention.
"They (the United States) want to appropriate the oil in Libya; they don't care about anyone's life in that region," Chavez said.
Some residents said they could receive weapons to fight back.
"We received a phone call around 3 a.m. that everyone should head out in the streets," a woman in Tripoli said. "Normal civilians are being able to have machine guns and take anti-aircraft machine guns ... to fire back at the airplanes."
Another witness in Tripoli said she's terrified about how Gadhafi might respond to the airstrikes.
"We're scared. We're not sure what will happen next," she said. "To be honest, I'm scared for my life."

                                         --------------------------------------------


Gadhafi vows 'long war' as strikes hit his forces

TRIPOLI, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi vowed a "long war" as allied forces launched a second night of strikes on Libya on Sunday, and jubilant rebels who only a day before were in danger of being crushed by his forces now boasted they would bring him down. The U.S. military said the international assault would hit any Gadhafi forces on the ground that are attacking the opposition.
The U.S. military said the bombardment so far — a rain of Tomahawk cruise missiles and precision bombs from American and European aircraft, including long-range stealth B-2 bombers — had succeeded in heavily degrading Gadhafi's air defenses.
The international campaign went beyond hitting anti-aircaft sites. U.S., British and French planes blasted a line of tanks that had been moving on the rebel capital Benghazi, in the opposition-held eastern half of the country. On Sunday, at least seven demolished tanks smoldered in a field 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Benghazi, many of them with their turrets and treads blown off, alongside charred armored personnel carriers, jeeps and SUVs of the kind used by Gadhafi fighters.
"I feel like in two days max we will destroy Gadhafi," said Ezzeldin Helwani, 35, a rebel standing next to the smoldering wreckage of an armored personnel carrier, the air thick with smoke and the pungent smell of burning rubber. In a grisly sort of battle trophy, celebrating fighters hung a severed goat's head with a cigarette in its mouth from the turret of one of the gutted tanks.
The strikes that began early Sunday gave immediate, if temporary, relief to Benghazi, which the day before had been under a heavy attack that killed at least 120 people. The city's calm on Sunday highlighted the dramatic turnaround that the allied strikes bring to Libya's month-old upheaval: For the past 10 days, Gadhafi's forces had been on a triumphant offensive against the rebel-held east, driving opposition fighters back with the overwhelming firepower of tanks, artillery, warplanes and warships.
Now Gadhafi's forces are potential targets for U.S. and European strikes. The U.N. resolution authorizing international military action in Libya not only sets up a no-fly zone but allows "all necessary measures" to prevent attacks on civilians.
But the U.S. military, for the time being at the lead of the international campaign, is trying to walk a fine line over the end game of the assault. It is avoiding for now any appearance that it aims to take out Gadhafi or help the rebels oust him, instead limiting its stated goals to protecting civilians.
At the Pentagon, Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney underlined that strikes are not specifically targeting the Libyan leader or his residence in Tripoli. He said that any of Gadhafi's ground forces advancing on the rebels were open targets.
"If they are moving on opposition forces ... yes, we will take them under attack," he told reporters.
"We judge these strikes to have been very effective in significantly degrading the regime's air defense capability," Gortney said. "We believe his forces are under significant stress and suffering from both isolation and a good deal of confusion."
What happens if rebel forces eventually go on the offensive against Gadhafi's troops remains unclear. Gortney would not say whether strikes would hit Libyan troops fighting back against rebel assaults.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said late Sunday that the U.S. expects turn over control of the operation to a coalition headed by France, Britain or NATO "in a matter of days," reflecting concern that the U.S. military was stretched thin by its current missions. Turkey was blocking NATO action, which requires agreement by all 20 members of the alliance.
Danish Defense Minister Gitte Lillelund Bech confirmed to The Associated Press that four Danish F-16s took part in missions over Libya on Sunday. "We are using military means, but there are also a lot of other means we can use to make sure that Gadhafi will not be running Libya in the future," she said.
Sunday night, heavy anti-aircraft fire erupted repeatedly in the capital, Tripoli, with arcs of red tracer bullets and exploding shells in the dark sky — marking the start of a second night of international strikes. Gadhafi supporters in the streets shot automatic weapons in the air in a show of defiance. It was not immediately known what was being targeted in the new strikes.
Libyan army spokesman Col. Milad al-Fokhi said Libyan army units had been ordered to cease fire at 9 p.m. local time, but the hour passed with no letup in military activity.
Gadhafi vowed to fight on. In a phone call to Libyan state television Sunday, he said he would not let up on Benghazi and said the government had opened up weapons depots to all Libyans, who were now armed with "automatic weapons, mortars and bombs." State television said Gadhafi's supporters were converging on airports as human shields.
"We promise you a long war," he said.
He called the international assault "simply a colonial crusader aggression that may ignite another large-scale crusader war."
Throughout the day Sunday, Libyan TV showed a stream of what it said were popular demonstrations in support of Gadhafi in Tripoli and other towns and cities. It showed cars with horns blaring, women ululating, young men waving green flags and holding up pictures of the Libyan leader. Women and children chanted, "God, Moammar and Libya, that's it!"
"Our blood is green, not red," one unidentified woman told the broadcaster, referring to the signature color of Gadhafi's regime. "He is our father, we will be with him to the last drop of blood. Our blood is green with our love for him."
Among the targets hit in the first night of strikes before dawn Sunday was one of Libya's main air bases, on Tripoli's outskirts, the opposition said. Also hit, it said, was an air force complex outside Misrata, the last rebel-held city in western Libya — which has been under siege the past week by Gadhafi forces. Those forces have been bombarding the city from the complex, which houses an air base and a military academy.
Despite the strikes, the troops resumed bombarding Misrata during the day Sunday, said Switzerland-based Libyan activist Fathi al-Warfali.
"Misrata is the only city in western Libya not under Gadhafi's control; he is trying hard to change its position," said al-Warfali, who told The Associated Press he was in touch with residents in the city.
In Benghazi, the rebel capital and first city to fall to the uprising that began Feb. 15, residents were celebrating the dramatic turn of events. The day before, Gadhafi's forces pounded the city of around 700,000 with artillery and tank shells and punched through the outskirts in heavy street battles. Along the tree-lined road into Benghazi, buildings riddled with pockmarks and burnt-out cars, buses and tanks gave testimony to the ferocity of the fighting.
"Yesterday was a catastrophe," said Salwa el-Daghili, a member of the opposition national council that governs rebel-held territory. "Today, there is hope — you can see it on the streets."
Outside the city, hundreds of men roamed the wreckage of the tanks and army vehicles hit by the allied strikes. Shredded blankets, torn foam mattresses and empty cans of tomato paste littered the field.
"Thank you, France. Thank you, America," said Abdul-Gader Dejuli as he surveyed the wreckage. "Obama good, Sarkozy good."
The allied assault began in the early hours Sunday with a wave of strikes by French warplanes in the east, followed by a barrage of 112 cruise missiles fired by U.S. and British warships and submarines in the Mediterranean targeting radar systems, communications centers and surface-to-air missile sites. Bombings mainly from American aircraft — including B-2 stealth bombers and F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers — then targeted Libyan ground forces and air defenses, the U.S. military said.
The systems targeted most closely were Libya's SA-5 surface-to-air missiles, Russian-made weaponry that could pose a threat to allied aircraft many miles off the Libyan coastline. Libya has a range of other air defense weaponry, including portable surface-to-air missiles that are more difficult to eliminate by bombing.
Libya said 48 people were killed, including many civilians. That brought criticism of the campaign from the head of the Arab League, which last week took the unprecedented step of calling for a no-fly zone. On Sunday, Arab League chief Amr Moussa criticized the allied strikes, saying they went beyond what the Arab body had supported.
"What happened differs from the no-fly zone objectives," Moussa told reporters in Cairo. "What we want is civilians' protection not shelling more civilians."
Nevertheless, France on Sunday said warplanes in the Arab Gulf nation of Qatar would participate in the campaign, a sign of continued Arab support.
The prospect of Gadhafi remaining in control of at least a portion of the country raises questions about how far the Obama administration and its European and other partners are willing to go with military force.
Obama referred to Libya but did not discuss the unfolding operation during remarks in Brazil.
"We've seen the people of Libya take a courageous stand against a regime determined to brutalize its own citizens," Obama said.
"No one can say for certain how this change will end, but I do know that change is not something that we should fear. When young people insist that the currents of history are on the move, the burdens of the past can be washed away."
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was pressed repeatedly during a round of Sunday television interviews to explain the mission's objectives. He said the main goal is to protect civilians from further violence.
"I think circumstances will drive where this goes in the future," the admiral said on ABC's "This Week." "I wouldn't speculate in terms of length at this particular point in time."
Asked whether it was possible that the military goals might be met without Gadhafi being ousted, Mullen replied, "That's certainly potentially one outcome." He described the Libyan strongman as more isolated than ever, adding that Gadhafi is "going to have to make some choices about his own future" at some point.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that although ousting Gadhafi is not an explicit goal of the campaign, his departure might be hastened as the conflict continues.
"The opposition is largely led by those who defected from the Gadhafi regime or who formerly served it, and it is certainly to be wished for that there will be even more such defections, that people will put the future of Libya and the interests of the Libyan people above their service to Col. Gadhafi," she said.
___                                       ----------------------------------------------


Tripoli blast as coalition action goes on

The Pentagon expects to hand over control of allied military operations in Libya "in a matter of days", either to a UK-France coalition or to Nato, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says.
Meanwhile, witnesses in Tripoli reported hearing loud blasts and anti-aircraft fire on Sunday night.
Smoke rose from near the compound of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
French planes patrolled over Libya on Sunday, but the Pentagon said Libya's air defences were effectively degraded.
While the US will continue to play a part in military operations, Mr Gates says it "will not have the pre-eminent role."
"I think there is a sensitivity on the part of the Arab League to being seen to be operating under a Nato umbrella," Mr Gates said. "And so the question is if there is a way we can work out Nato's command and control machinery without it being a Nato mission and without a Nato flag, and so on."
Mr Gates also said a break-up of Libya would be a formula for instability. The east of the country, where the month-old revolt began, has historically been much more opposed to Col Gaddafi's rule, while the west and the area around Tripoli constitute his heartland. 

Plume of smoke
A BBC reporter in Tripoli says a heavy barrage of anti-aircraft fire was heard in the city centre on Sunday night. 
A column of smoke rose in the area of Bab al-Aziziya, where Col Gaddafi has his military base and compound, our reporter says.
However, he adds that it is believed there are anti-aircraft weapons close to Bab al-Aziziya, which may well have been targeted, rather than the compound itself.
Meanwhile, heavy gunfire and sporadic explosions were heard in the streets of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Sunday night, a witness told Reuters.
There were also unconfirmed reports of pro-Gaddafi fighters opening fire from cars in the city.
In a statement from the Pentagon on Sunday, US Vice Adm William Gortney said coalition raids were "judged to have been very effective" and no new Libyan air activity had been reported.
"Benghazi is not completely safe from attack but it is certainly under less threat than it was yesterday," he said.
Meanwhile, the build-up of forces to enforce the no-fly zone continues.
Qatar is to send four planes to join the coalition enforcing the UN-mandated no-fly zone, the US and France have said.
The move would make Qatar the first Arab country to play an active part in the campaign against Col Gaddafi, who has been battling a month-long revolt.
Other Arab countries are also preparing to join the campaign against Col Gaddafi, Vice Adm Gortley said, adding that those governments would make their own announcements in due course.
The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle has left the Mediterranean port of Toulon for Libya, while Denmark and Norway are each sending six planes. Spain has sent at least three planes, plus a refuelling aircraft, while Italy also has jets ready to deploy.

Arab League
The head of the Arab League, who supported the idea of a no-fly zone, has criticised the severity of the bombardment.
"What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians," said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
Arab League support was a key factor in getting UN Security Council backing for the resolution authorising the move.
In a news conference on Sunday, a Libyan military spokesman said its armed forces had ordered a ceasefire across the entire country, beginning at 2100 local time (1900 GMT).
However, the BBC's Allan Little in Tripoli says the government had been insisting that its troops were already observing a ceasefire order made on Friday.
Despite Friday's announcement, our correspondent adds, pro-Gaddafi troops have tried to enter Benghazi and have been in action at Misrata.
A rebel spokesman in Misrata told the BBC that pro-Gaddafi forces had launched fresh attacks on Sunday with heavy shelling.
Col Gaddafi has ruled Libya for more than 40 years. An uprising against him began last month after the long-time leaders of neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt were toppled.




                                     -------------------------------------------------

 

Japan warns on quake deaths rise

Police in Japan say 15,000 people may have been killed in a single prefecture, Miyagi, by the huge quake and tsunami which struck nine days ago.
The official death toll has now risen to 8,450, with 12,931 people missing.
But there was some good news after an 80-year-old woman and her grandson were found alive in the rubble of Ishinomaki city.
Attempts continue to stave off a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Engineers are still working to restore power supplies to the plant's cooling systems, which were knocked out by the tsunami.
But even when they do, there is no guarantee the cooling systems in the plant will work, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Toyko.
Experts say that an improvised spraying operation using fire trucks may have to continue for months, our correspondent says.
But officials said conditions in reactor 3 - which has presented engineers with the most serious problems - appeared to have stabilised on Sunday, after they warned earlier that rising pressure might require radioactive steam to be vented.
Homeless The new figure of a possible 15,000 dead comes from police in the worst-hit Miyagi prefecture, and does not include the thousands more dead and missing in areas to the north and south.
It is looking increasingly clear that the death toll will top 20,000 people at least, our correspondent says.
The disaster dwarfs anything Japan has seen since World War II and people are beginning to talk of the disaster in similar terms, he says.
In a rare story of survival, an elderly woman and a 16-year-old boy, believed to be her grandson, were found alive in a house in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, nine days after the quake, said Japanese media and police.
Sumi and Jin Abe were trapped when their home collapsed in the quake but were able to get food from the refrigerator. They are both being treated in hospital.
The authorities have begun building temporary homes for some of the hundreds of thousands of people - including an estimated 100,000 children - still sheltering at emergency evacuation centres.
Many survivors have been enduring freezing temperatures without water, electricity, fuel or enough food.
The destruction of the mobile phone network means people are queuing for hours to make their allocated phone call of one minute.
And crippling fuel shortages mean long queues at some petrol stations.
Meanwhile, at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, firefighters have continued to spray water at the dangerously overheated reactors and fuel rods, in a desperate attempt to avert a meltdown.
Engineers hope that restoring power will allow them to restart pumps to continue the cooling process, and have attached power lines to reactors 1 and 2, but it is unclear when they will attempt to turn the power back on.
Kyodo news agency quoted Tokyo Electric Power Co as saying that previously overheated spent-fuel storage pools at reactors 5 and 6 had been cooled by Sunday morning.
On Friday officials raised the alert level at the plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale of atomic incidents.
The crisis, previously rated as a local problem, is now regarded as having "wider consequences".
It has highlighted the debate about the safety of nuclear power generation.
Some 2,000 anti-nuclear protesters took to the streets in the Taiwanese capital Taipei to protest against the construction of the island's fourth nuclear power plant, and anti-nuclear banners were also visible on an annual anti-war demonstration in Tokyo on Sunday.
Food ban mulled Radiation levels have risen in the capital Tokyo, 240km (150 miles) to the south, but officials say the levels recorded are not harmful.
Radioactive contamination has been found in some food products from the Fukushima prefecture, Japanese officials say.
The iodine was found in milk and spinach tested between 16 and 18 March and could be harmful to human health if ingested, the officials said.
International nuclear experts at the IAEA say that, although radioactive iodine has a short half-life of about eight days, there is a short-term risk to human health if it is ingested, and it can cause damage to the thyroid.
On Sunday, chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said the government would decide by Monday whether to restrict consumption and shipments of food products from the area in the vicinity of the Fukushima plant.
But Reuters reported the health ministry had already prohibited the sale of raw milk from Fukushima prefecture.
Traces of radioactive iodine have also been found in tap water in Tokyo and five other prefectures, officials said on Saturday.
The traces are within government safety limits, but tests usually show no iodine.
Meanwhile, radiation has been detected for the first time in Japanese exports, with Taiwanese officials finding contamination in a batch of fava beans, although they say the amount is too small to be dangerous to humans.


                                   --------------------------------------------------




Woman, grandson found alive at quake-wrecked home

TOKYO – The voice rang out suddenly, unexpectedly, from the wreckage left behind by the monstrous earthquake and tsunami that ripped through the country's northeast nine days ago.
"Please help! Please help!"
There, on the roof of his collapsed wooden home, stood a shivering Jin Abe, so cold that he had draped layers of towels around his body. His grandmother, Sumi Abe, was trapped inside, too, the 16-year-old told the team of Ishinomaki police officers who had been patrolling the hard-hit city on Sunday.
The two had been stuck there since the March 11 magnitude-9.0 quake struck off the coast of Japan, triggering a massive tsunami that obliterated much of the northeastern coastline. Their neighborhood, too, lay in ruins.
The 80-year-old woman's weak legs kept her from walking, and the teenager had been unable until Sunday to crawl out of the wreckage, police spokesman Shizuo Kawamura said.
Police called in personnel with better equipment to help rescue the woman, whom police found wrapped in several blankets, on top of a collapsed closet.
Grandmother and grandson were weak but conscious, having survived on the food they had in their refrigerator, Kawamura told The Associated Press by telephone. The earthquake and tsunami knocked out power and telephone service throughout the northeast coast.
National broadcaster NHK aired dramatic video of the rescue, which showed a stunned, though coherent, woman. She gave her name when asked.
"Are you hurt?" a rescuer said.
"No," she replied, and asked about her grandson.
Both she and Jin were taken to a nearby hospital.
A couple days after the disaster, an aunt asked police to search for the two. On Sunday, Jin's father, Akira Abe, told reporters gathered at the hospital that he had never given up hope.
"I always believed they were alive," he said.
The rescue offered Japan an uplifting piece of news amid colossal devastation and sadness with thousands of dead and missing. Still, Kawamura said he wasn't smiling.
"We have too many other victims to find to take the time to celebrate," he said.

                            -------------------------------------


Protesters, security forces clash in Syria

(CNN) -- One person died Sunday in clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, witnesses told CNN.
Sunday's protests come the same day a delegation from President Bashar al-Assad offered "condolences to the families of the two martyrs who died during the unfortunate events which took place in Daraa on Friday," the Syrian news agency SANA reported.
Funerals for the dead were held Sunday, the third day of protests, witnesses said. Syria is the latest in a string of Arabic-speaking nations beset with discontent.
"We rejected those offerings because the government was responsible for the killings. It was an attempt to contain the situation in Daraa," said Mohammed Sheikh, a local leader.
Two people were killed during demonstrations in the city Friday, according to SANA. According to witnesses, five people have died in Daraa since Friday.
Opponents of the al-Assad government allege massive human rights abuses. An emergency law has been in effect since 1963. Protesters are calling for reform and more political and economic freedoms.

                      --------------------------------------



Super Full Moon in pictures:



 


 



 

                          -------------------------------------


Japan restricts milk, vegetables produced near damaged nuclear plant

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan slapped restrictions on some food produced in two provinces around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Sunday after high levels of radioactivity turned up in spinach and milk.
However, Dr. James Cox, professor of radiation oncology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said the reported levels posed little or no health concerns.
"The immediate risk in terms of health effects are probably nonexistent, and the long-term risk is very low," said Cox, a CNN consultant.
Nonetheless, the Japanese government has banned the sale of raw milk from Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima Daiichi plant is located, and prohibited the sale of spinach from neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture after finding levels of radioactive iodine and cesium higher than government standards, the country's Health Ministry reported. And officials in Fukushima halted the distribution of locally grown vegetables outside the prefecture.
The concerns about food may add an economic shock to the beating Japan has taken from the quake, which has so far left more than 23,000 dead, injured or missing.
"The government is going to have to grapple with what to do about that," said Jim Walsh, an international security expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a CNN consultant. "If they outlaw all the produce from that region, that pretty much is putting the stamp of death on those farmers. They're never going to be able to sell any produce."
Japanese officials reported levels of radioactive iodine in milk from four locations in Fukushima that ranged from about 20% over the acceptable limit to more than 17 times that limit. Testing at one location also found levels of cesium about 5% over the acceptable limit, the Health Ministry reported Sunday.
And in Ibaraki, a major center of vegetable production, tests at 10 locations found iodine levels in spinach that ranged from 5% over acceptable limits to more than 27 times that ceiling. At seven sites, levels of cesium grew from just above 4% to nearly four times the limit.
Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo, has Japan's fourth-largest amount of farmland and ranks among its top producer of fruits, vegetables and rice. Ibaraki, south of Fukushima, supplies Tokyo with a significant amount of fruits and vegetables and is Japan's third-largest pork producer.
On Saturday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said someone who ate the affected milk and spinach would take in the same amount of radiation as that of a single CT scan -- about 7 millisieverts, more than double the 3 millisieverts that a person in an industrialized country is typically exposed to in a year.
"Even if you consume the spinach in question for a long time, it will not pose an immediate threat to your health," Edano said early Sunday.
Iodine and cesium isotopes are byproducts of nuclear reactors like the ones that were damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northern Japanese island of Honshu. While Iodine-131 has a radioactive half-life of eight days, cesium-137's half-life is about 30 years.
After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, tons of food had to be destroyed when radioactive debris fell on crops in large swaths of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
Hygiene expert Satoshi Takaya, who helped Japanese scientists prevent contaminated food from entering the country at that time, said the current situation is no Chernobyl -- but he said the current crisis is sure to affect Japanese farmers.
"Japanese, or anyone for that matter, won't eat anything they consider could possibly be contaminated," he said.

                                           --------------------------------------------

Jubilant Egyptians Vote in Constitutional Referendum

CAIRO—Jubilant Egyptians turned out in surprisingly large numbers to cast ballots Saturday in a historic vote on constitutional amendments that stood as an early test of Egypt's emerging democracy.
Voters lined up for hours at many of the more than 50,000 polling stations across the country. Many said they were voting for the first time in their lives, spurred by the prospect of finally taking part in an election in which the outcome wasn't effectively predetermined.
"This is the beginning of the end of the dictatorship we suffered under since 1952," said Miro al-Zaidi, a 72-year-old retired civil engineer casting the first ballot of his life. "Today, I believe it will be a free vote."
The enthusiastic and peaceful voting offered a glimpse of how much has changed in Egypt in the weeks since President Hosni Mubarak stepped down amid widespread unrest, ending decades of single-party, autocratic rule.
Early indications suggested a relatively problem-free vote, a dramatic contrast to past Egyptian elections, which were often marred by widespread violence and allegations of fraud.
The prospect of a free and fair election in the Arab world's most populous country stood as a potential milestone in the region at a moment when democratic movements across the Middle East are faltering. There have been bloody crackdowns on pro-democracy protests in Bahrain and Yemen in recent days, and Libya appears to be in the opening stages of a full-out—and possibly protracted—civil war.
"This is the biggest democratic experiment in the Middle East ever," said Jason Brownlee, a Middle East expert at the University of Texas who was in Cairo observing Saturday's vote.
If approved by Egyptians Saturday, the constitutional amendments will set the stage for parliamentary elections in the coming months, beginning the process of removing the powerful military from the governing role it assumed after Mr. Mubarak resigned.
At polling stations around Cairo, voters waited patiently in lines that snaked around blocks. Egyptian election observers and political analysts said they were surprised by what appeared to be an unprecedented turnout, although precise figures weren't immediately available.
There were scattered reports of violence and irregularities, which observers blamed on poor and rushed preparations by the seven-member election oversight committee appointed by the military.
The most serious violent incident came when people threw stones at opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei as he tried to enter a polling station.
Mr. ElBaradei was forced to flee without casting his ballot. He blamed the attack on "thugs," although it wasn't clear to which political leader or party they were loyal.
In parts of southern Egypt, polls didn't open until the afternoon, because there were no judges available to monitor them, as required by election rules. Observers attributed the problem to organizers accidently assigning judges to run polling stations who had died or were not available for other reasons.
The military quickly flew judges to southern Egypt and polls opened there by early afternoon, officials said.
There were also reports of judges allowing ballots to be used that lacked the official electoral stamp. Monitors said the judges, lacking enough stamped ballots, appeared to have acted in good faith to avoid disenfranchising voters due to a bureaucratic snafu, although they noted there could be problems if someone later challenged the votes.
Results were expected late Sunday or Monday.
Saturday's vote offered early clues into the rifts and electoral dynamics that could shape future Egyptian politics. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group outlawed under Mr. Mubarak, and the National Democratic Party, the former president's ruling party, were almost alone in their support of the amendments. But they hope to capitalize on their already strong organizations in summer elections.
Many reformers who led the revolutionary protests that swept Mr. Mubarak from power opposed the amendments, criticizing them as part of a rushed and problematic timeline for establishing democracy; approving the changes would start the clock on a race they are unprepared to run because they are still setting up parties, they said. The reformers include many of Egypt's secular and liberal politicians.
There were also hints of a religious divide with leaders of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church—whose adherents account for about 10% of the country's 80 million people—also coming out against the amendments.
None of the amendments dealt with the religion, and Coptic leaders told followers their opposition was about stymieing the perceived electoral strength of Muslim Brotherhood.
The proposed amendments limit the president to two, four-year terms, restore the role of Egypt's relatively independent judiciary in overseeing elections, and limit the president's ability to call a state of emergency, among other reforms.
They were devised by a panel of judges and lawyers convened by the military shortly after Mr. Mubarak stepped down and the constitution—which concentrated power in the hands of the president alone—was suspended.
In the days leading up to the referendum, the country witnessed another novelty: a robust public debate ahead of an election whose outcome was an open question. Political parties ran full-page newspaper advertisements, rival political leaders made daily speeches, and talking heads seemed to be endlessly debating the issues on television news shows—providing a glimpse of how the prospect of truly free and fair elections have energized Egyptians.
The excitement was clear Saturday at a polling station in the working-class Cairo suburb of Haram.
"I expected many people to come today because in the past there was fraud in the elections so people did not trust the government," said Tamer Abdel Rahman, 39, a warehouse supervisor.
"People are able to express themselves without fear," he continued, adding that he would vote "yes" on the proposed amendments. "What I didn't expect was so many people this early."
Nearby, a pair of men held a sign that encouraged passing motorists to vote. "Please wait a minute. Now is the first democracy test. Freedom after 30 years. It's not important whether you say yes or no. What's important is that you prove to the whole world that you're Egyptian," the sign read.

                      -----------------------------------------

Yemeni president fires government

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has fired his cabinet amid continuing protests against his rule.
The announcement came after tens of thousands of people turned out at funerals for dozens of protesters shot dead on Friday.
Earlier, Yemen's ambassador to the UN became the latest official to resign in protest at the killings.
At least 45 people were killed on Friday after gunmen in civilian clothes fired on an anti-government rally.
Despite firing his government, President Saleh has asked the cabinet to remain in place until a new one could be appointed, Yemen's official news agency reported.
President Saleh has faced a string of resignations over Friday's crackdown, which have caused widespread anger in Yemen.
'Ready for more sacrifices'
The resignation by Yemen's ambassador to the UN, Abdullah Alsaidi, followed those of the ministers for human rights and tourism, several senior ruling party officials, the head of the state news agency, and the Yemeni ambassador to Lebanon. 
Mourners in the capital, Sanaa, gathered on Sunday in a square near Sanaa University.
The university was at the centre of Friday's crackdown, and bodies of many of the victims were laid out as people paid their respects.
Opposition parties joining the procession said they had changed their position from a demand for political reform to a demand of President Saleh's departure, the Associated Press news agency reported.
"This is an acknowledgment of the failure of the security in repressing the revolution, and the crowds that came out today are a signal of the readiness to put forth more sacrifices," said opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabry.
Demonstrations were also reported in several other regions.
President Saleh declared a state of emergency following Friday's shootings, which he denied had been carried out by his security forces.
But opposition accused the president of presiding over a "massacre".
President Saleh has been in power for 32 years. He has recently been challenged by a separatist movement in the south, a branch of al-Qaeda, and a periodic conflict with Shia tribes in the north.
He has promised political reforms and said he will not seek another term in office in 2013, but has also vowed to defend his regime "with every drop of blood".

                        ------------------------------------

Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, country by country

(CNN) -- Demonstrations have spread across parts of the Middle East and North Africa. Here is the latest from each country and the roots of the unrest.
.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
.
LIBYA
.
-- The Libyan military on Sunday called an immediate cease-fire after allied forces pounded one of its convoys near Benghazi and, according to U.S. officials, significantly degraded the regime's air defense capability.
.
-- U.S. military leaders insisted the air campaign was limited -- enforcement of a United Nations-mandated no-fly zone and preventing troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi from advancing on rebel positions.
.
-- There was violence across the country Sunday, with Gadhafi apparently shelling rebels in the west while allied airstrikes destroyed one of Gadhafi's convoys in the east.
.
-- Forces loyal to Gadhafi were shelling the city of Misrata on Sunday, using tanks, artillery and cannons, a witness said.
.
-- U.S. warplanes, including stealth bombers and fighter jets, conducted strike operations in Libya on Sunday morning, said Lt. Cmdr. James Stockman of U.S. Africa Command.
.
-- In a speech on state television, a defiant Moammar Gadhafi vowed to fight back and said Libya is prepared for a "long-drawn" war. He said that even women will take up arms to fight coalition forces.
.
-- A woman in Tripoli says civilians are getting access to anti-aircraft weapons. CNN could not independently verify the claim.
.
Roots of unrest
.
-- Protests in Libya started in February when demonstrators, fed up with delays, broke into a housing project the government was building and occupied it. Gadhafi's government, which has ruled since a 1969 coup, responded with a $24 billion fund for housing and development. A month later, more demonstrations were sparked when police detained relatives of those killed in an alleged 1996 massacre at the Abu Salim prison, according to Human Rights Watch. High unemployment and demands for freedom have also fueled the protests.
.
YEMEN
.
-- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh dismissed his Cabinet on Sunday, according to Tareq Al-Shami, a spokesman for the country's ruling party, but has asked the officials to stay on until a new Cabinet is appointed.
.
-- The move followed what sources said were the weekend resignations of two top Yemeni officials to protest a government crackdown on protesters that left 52 people dead last week.
.
-- Yemen's minister of human rights, Huda al-Baan, has resigned after a government crackdown on protesters resulted in the deaths of 52 people last week, an official in her office said Sunday.
-- In addition to the fatalities, more than 100 people were hurt Friday in clashes between tens of thousands of anti-government protesters and security forces outside Sanaa University in the Yemeni capital, medical officials on the scene said.
.
Roots of unrest
.
-- Protesters have called for the ouster of Saleh, who has ruled Yemen since 1978. The country has been wracked by a Shiite Muslim uprising, a U.S.-aided crackdown on al Qaeda operatives and a looming shortage of water. High unemployment fuels much of the anger among a growing young population steeped in poverty. The protesters also cite government corruption and a lack of political freedom. Saleh has promised not to run for president in the next round of elections.
.
SAUDI ARABIA
.
-- Security forces in Saudi Arabia arrested several people demonstrating at the interior ministry Sunday, putting them in police cars and buses to take them away, witnesses said. The demonstrators were demanding the release of imprisoned relatives, the second such protest in as many weeks.
.
-- About 100 men had gathered to protest at the government office in the capital Riyadh, said activist Mohammed Al-Qahtani and another witness who did not want to be named to protect his safety.
.
-- Other than a pledge to set up an anti-corruption agency, the activists said, King Abdullah promised little to meet their demands. Instead, the long list of new measures simply expands powers for the kingdom and the religious establishment.
.
Roots of unrest
.
-- Demonstrators have demanded the release of Shiite prisoners who they feel are being held without cause. Others have taken to the streets over the creation of a constitutional monarchy, more rights and other reforms. Late last month, King Abdullah announced a series of sweeping measures aimed at relieving economic hardship and meeting with Bahrain's beleaguered monarch.
.
BAHRAIN
.
-- The outspoken head of a Bahrain human rights group said Sunday that he was handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten when authorities detained him for about two hours.
.
-- Nabeel Rajab of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights said about 25 people in about a dozen cars pulled up to his house early Sunday morning and took him to the offices of the interior ministry's investigative department.
.
-- "They said that they were looking for a suspect who was armed and thought I might know him," Rajab said. "They beat me, punched me, kicked me, handcuffed me. Blindfolded me."
.
-- Security forces on Friday demolished the Pearl Monument, a landmark that had been the site of massive recent anti-government protests.
.
Roots of unrest
.
-- Protesters initially took to the streets of Manama to demand reform and the introduction of a constitutional monarchy. But some are now calling for the removal of the royal family, which has led the Persian Gulf state since the 18th century. Young members of the country's Shiite Muslim majority have staged protests in recent years to complain about discrimination, unemployment and corruption, issues they say the country's Sunni rulers have done little to address. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights said authorities launched a clampdown on dissent in 2010. It accused the government of torturing some human rights activists.
.
EGYPT
.
-- Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved proposed constitutional amendments that pave the way for parliamentary elections in June, according to the head of the judicial committee overseeing the referendum. An estimated 45 million Egyptians were eligible to vote in what was widely viewed as the country's first free election in decades.
.
-- The proposed amendments included limiting the president to two four-year terms, capping emergency laws to six months unless they are extended by public referendum, and placing elections under judicial oversight.
.
Roots of unrest
.
-- Complaints about police corruption and abuses were among the top grievances of demonstrators who forced President Hosni Mubarak from office. Demonstrators also were angry about Mubarak's 30-year rule, a lack of free elections and economic issues, such as high food prices, low wages and high unemployment. Since Mubarak's departure, several thousand people have protested in Cairo's Tahrir Square to urge Egypt's new rulers to implement promised reforms. They pressed Egypt's Supreme Council to end an emergency law and release political prisoners, among other things. They also demanded civilian representation in government.
.
SYRIA
.
-- One person died Sunday in clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, witnesses told CNN.
.
-- Sunday's protests come the same day a delegation from President Bashar al-Assad offered "condolences to the families of the two martyrs who died during the unfortunate events which took place in Daraa on Friday," the Syrian news agency SANA reported.
.
-- Two people were killed during demonstrations in the city Friday, according to SANA. According to witnesses, five people have died in Daraa since Friday.
.
-- The violence was roundly condemned by the United Nations, the United States and Britain.
.
Roots of unrest
.
Opponents of the al-Assad government allege massive human rights abuses, and an emergency law has been in effect since 1963. Earlier in March, Syrian human rights attorney Haitham Maleh -- arrested in October 2009 during a government crackdown on lawyers and activists -- was freed, his son said. The move comes amid demands by many citizens for more economic prosperity, political freedom and civil liberty.
.
PREVIOUS DEVELOPMENTS
.
TUNISIA
.
-- In two short months, this country has gone from decades of strict one-party rule to an explosion of more than 30 registered political parties.
.
-- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Tunisia on Wednesday, part of a four-day trip that also included stops in France and Egypt.
.
-- About 200 people applauded her as she walked into a room at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis. She said the United States supported the Tunisian revolution for democracy, and more loud applause erupted.
.
Roots of unrest
.
-- The revolt was triggered when an unemployed college graduate set himself ablaze after police confiscated his fruit cart, cutting off his source of income. Protesters complained about high unemployment, corruption, rising prices and political repression. An interim government came to power after an uprising prompted autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to leave the country January 14. Those demonstrations helped spark protests across North Africa and the Middle East.
.
ELSEWHERE
.
Sporadic demonstrations have erupted in recent weeks in other Middle Eastern and northern African nations, such as Algeria, Djibouti, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Kuwait and Sudan and in the Palestinian territories.
ELSEWHERE
.
Sporadic demonstrations have erupted in recent weeks in other Middle Eastern and northern African nations, such as Algeria, Djibouti, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Kuwait and Sudan and in the Palestinian territories.

                         --------------------------------------

US ambassador to Mexico quits amid WikiLeaks furor

MEXICO CITY – The U.S. ambassador to Mexico resigned Saturday amid furor over a leaked diplomatic cable in which he complained about inefficiency and infighting among Mexican security forces in the campaign against drug cartels.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Paris to meet with U.S. allies on Libya, said Carlos Pascual's decision to step down was "based upon his personal desire to ensure the strong relationship between our two countries and to avert issues" raised by President Felipe Calderon.
Clinton didn't say specifically what she was referring to, but a furious Calderon has publicly criticized Pascual's cable, which was divulged by the WikiLeaks website.
Pascual's resignation — less than two weeks since President Barack Obama met with Calderon at the White House — appeared to be the biggest fallout yet from thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables from around the world released by WikiLeaks. It was the first such public departure by a U.S. ambassador during the Obama administration.
Mexico's government offered a polite and muted response, offering "its best wishes to Ambassador Carlos Pascual in the duties he will undertake after concluding his post in our country."
"Institutional contacts between both countries are solid, as it should be between the neighboring and friendly countries with common goals," Calderon's office said in a statement. "The Mexican government reiterates its commitment to consolidating the principles of shared responsibility, trust and mutual respect as the basis of bilateral ties with the United States."
Clinton took the unusual step of announcing the departure of an individual member of the diplomatic corps, and while she was on the road meeting with U.S. allies to discuss the commencement of military attacks on Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan government.
She went to lengths to praise Pascual's work in Mexico and said the Obama administration never lost confidence in him. Clinton said Pascual's work with Mexico to build institutions capable of fighting drug traffickers "will serve both our nations for decades."
She added that she was "particularly grateful to Carlos for his efforts to sustain the morale and security of American personnel after tragic shootings in Mexico" that killed a U.S. employee, her husband and a Mexican tied to the consulate in the border city of Ciudad Juarez last year.
"It is with great reluctance that President Obama and I have acceded to Carlos's request" to step down, Clinton said in a statement.
The ambassador's resignation, however, laid bare how difficult relations between the U.S. Embassy and the Mexican government had become since the release of the cable in December.
Calderon has made no secret of his personal anger at Pascual.
"I do not have to tell the U.S. ambassador how many times I meet with my security Cabinet. It is none of his business. I will not accept or tolerate any type of intervention," Calderon said in an interview with the newspaper El Universal in late February. "But that man's ignorance translates into a distortion of what is happening in Mexico, and affects things and creates ill-feeling within our own team."
Pascual also may have ruffled feathers in the Mexican government and Calderon's National Action Party by dating the daughter of Francisco Rojas, the congressional leader of the former longtime ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. Mexican officials and the U.S. Embassy have declined to comment on that matter.
One of the leaked diplomatic cable that most angered Calderon was dated Jan. 29, 2010, and referred to friction between Mexico's army and navy while detailing an operation that led to the death of drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva.
Pascual said the U.S., which had information locating Beltran Leyva, originally took it to the army, which refused to move quickly. Beltran Leyva was eventually brought down in a shootout with Mexican marines, which have since taken the lead in other operations against cartel capos.
Other U.S. Embassy cables released since have reported jealousies and a lack of coordination between various Mexican security forces.
Their release has marred a relationship that both the United States and Mexico have for years touted as being stronger than ever.
Washington supports Mexico's war against drug trafficking with more than $1 billion in equipment and training, and has frequently praised Calderon's government for bringing down an unprecedented number of top drug lords. Mexico, in turn, has extradited a record number of trafficking suspects to the U.S. for prosecution, a step Mexico was long reluctant to take.
But the Calderon government has become testy when U.S. officials express serious concern about the growing violence in Mexico, where more than 35,000 people have been killed in drug gang violence since Calderon launched a military offensive against cartels in 2006. Calderon publicly criticized Clinton last year when she suggested Mexico was starting to resemble Colombia two decades ago.
Pressure had increased on Pascual in recent weeks, but the State Department had vigorously defended him, praising him at a March 4 briefing for his "tremendous work on behalf of the U.S.-Mexican bilateral relationship."
"I know of no plans to adjust his status," the department spokesman at the time, P.J. Crowley, insisted. He added that Clinton was fully behind Pascual.
The State Department took the same stand as recently as Thursday. "We have full confidence in our ambassador," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. He said Pascual was doing "stellar work" and no change was being contemplated.
Pascual, a Cuban-American who was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2000 to 2003, was appointed to the Mexican post in June 2009.
It was unclear when he would leave Mexico or when his replacement would be named. Clinton said she has asked Pascual to stay on for the time being to ensure "an orderly transition."

                             ---------------------------------

US attacks a 'big misunderstanding'


WASHINGTON - A Libyan military spokesman has announced a second ceasefire this morning, in its campaign against a military uprising, as a second night of international airstrikes on the country appeared imminent.
They also called on coalition forces to down arms and cease it's aerial bombardment of Libya.
The ceasefire was due to take effect at around 8am (NZT) this morning.
The ceasefire followed US claims of initial success two days into an assault that included some of the heaviest firepower in the American arsenal - long-range bombers designed for the Cold War.
Libyan officials said the attacks were barbaric, and state TV claimed they killed 48 people and wounded 150.
US-led attack a 'big misunderstanding'
As the attacks began, Muammar Gaddafi's son described the offensive as a "big misunderstanding", calling the opposition rebels "gangsters" and "terrorists".
Saif al-Islam, a key Gaddafi figure who had been tipped as a future Libyan leader, has defiantly denied there's any reason for his father to step aside.
"There is a big misunderstanding," he told ABC's This Week program on Sunday. "The whole country is united against the armed militia and the terrorists.
"Our people went to Benghazi to liberate Benghazi from the gangsters and the armed militia," he said, referring to the rebel bastion in eastern Libya.
"So if you, if the Americans want to help the Libyan people in Benghazi... go to Benghazi and liberate Benghazi from the militia and the terrorists."
Night of carnage
Meanwhile explosions were reported at an airport east of Tripoli as a British Trafalgar-class submarine and US Navy ships and submarines stationed off Libya fired 112 Tomahawk missiles at 20 targets in what one source described as a "night of carnage".
The missiles were aimed at Libyan command and control centres, radar installations and surface-to-air missile sites.
Moammar Gadhafi could stay in power
As the overnight onslaught intensified, a top US military officer suggested Moammar Gaddafi might stay in power in spite of the military assault aimed at protecting civilians, calling into question the larger objective of an end to Gadhafi's erratic 42-year rule.
Other top US officials have suggested that a weakened and isolated Gadhafi could be ripe for a coup.
Future direction of coaltion attacks uncertain
One senior military official said the early judgment was that the attacks had been highly successful, while not fully eliminating the threat posed by Libyan air defences.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Qatar would be "in the fight" in the next day or two after moving unspecified military aircraft to within striking range.
"I think circumstances will drive where this goes in the future," the admiral said on ABC's "This Week." "I wouldn't speculate in terms of length at this particular point in time." He said early results were highly encouraging, with no known US or allied losses and no reported civilian casualties.
"We're very focused on the limited objectives that the president has given us and actually the international coalition has given us, in terms of providing the no-fly zone so that he cannot attack his own people, to avoid any kind of humanitarian massacre, if you will, and to provide for the humanitarian corridors, humanitarian support of the Libyan people," Mullen added.
Asked whether it was possible that the military goals might be met without Gadhafi being ousted, Mullen replied, "That's certainly potentially one outcome." He described the Libyan strongman as more isolated than ever, adding that Gadhafi is "going to have to make some choices about his own future" at some point.
-AP

                                           --------------------------------------------------


US diplomat was impressed with Rahul Gandhi: Wikileaks

Washington, Mar 20 (ANI): Thousands of secret US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks have revealed that an American diplomat was impressed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
 
The Washington Post quoted the cables sent from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi in 2005 as saying that: "Gandhi conceded that many educated, upper middle class urban Indians dismiss politics as a dirty business, but he countered that there is a massive wave of interest in politics and service by younger Indians in small towns and rural areas.
"Noting that young people make up a majority of India's population and electorate, Gandhi said that for many, politics is a 'black box' to which entry is opaque. Noting unselfconsciously that most Indian politicians got into politics through family connections or friends, he said that establishing an open and transparent process of candidate recruitment starting at the most basic level and democratizing the party would do much to aid Congress in the coming years by bringing in fresh faces and new ideas," the diplomat said.
 
Summarising his impression about Gandhi, he said: "Gandhi came off as a practiced politician who knew how to get his message across and was comfortable with the nuts and bolts of party organization and vote counting. He was precise and articulate and demonstrated a mastery that belied the image some have of Gandhi as a dilettante. Given his commitment to party building, it seems unlikely he would seek a Cabinet position anytime soon."
 
Describing a meeting between ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi, anotheter cable dated 2006 said that Sonia Gandhi's 'Italian personality is clearly evident'.
 
"Despite her carefully erected Indian persona, her basic Italian personality is clearly evident in her mannerisms, speech and interests. She presents an intriguing enigma of a warm private personality that remains concealed and is available only to her closest confidants and family members," the then deputy chief of mission Geoff Pyatt said. (ANI)

                                          ---------------------------------------------

Haitians pick president amid uncertainty, turmoil

(CNN) -- Voting in the second round of Haiti's presidential runoff was calm with no violence reported Sunday morning, according to a spokeswoman the United Nations mission in Haiti.
"Security is quiet everywhere," said MINUSTAH spokeswoman Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg. "Everything seems to be going smoothly now."
Haitians are choosing between a former law professor and first lady Mirlande Manigat and singer Michel Martelly in a pivotal presidential runoff vote for a nation still recovering from a devastating earthquake and political turmoil.
Some irregularities were reporting at polling places around Port-au-Prince during the early hours of voting, including a shortage of ink to mark who voted and missing ballot boxes. But Van Den Wildenberg said those were resolved later in the morning.
Rachel Saint-ville, 28, was working as a facilitator at Lycee de Guatemala in the Petionville area of Port-au-Prince.
"People come and can't find their names, so I help them," she said. "Some can read and come cannot. But they didn't give me a T-shirt, so it's hard for people to identify me to help."
Final results of the runoff will be released on April 16, according to officials.
Martelly made a name for himself as a flamboyant carnival musician who sometimes ripped his clothes off onstage.
In early December, the electoral council announced that Manigat had won but lacked the majority of votes needed for an outright victory. Initial results put her in a runoff with government-backed candidate, Jude Celestin.
Haitians responded by charging fraud and burning cars, tires and Celestin's campaign headquarters in Port-au-Prince.
The third-place candidate, Martelly, claimed he had won more votes than Celestin and a review of results by an Organization of American States team supported that contention.
The review suggested that Martelly earned a spot in the runoff.
The reappearance of a political heavyweight and former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has sparked concerns of more political turmoil.
Aristide, who has been living in exile in South Africa for seven years, returned last week. U.S. officials expressed concern over his return, saying that his presence would prove destabilizing.
But Aristide's lawyer has said he has no intention of getting into politics.
Haiti has been struggling to recover since a massive earthquake struck a year ago. Its troubles were compounded by a cholera outbreak that killed thousands, and the turmoil surrounding the November 28 presidential election.
Meanwhile, the publicist for Haitian-born hip-hop singer Wyclef Jean said Sunday that the artist was shot in the hand in the capital Port-au-Prince Saturday, but was treated and released from the hospital.
"He is doing well," Cindy Tanenbaum said, calling the wound superficial.
Jean, a Haiti native, tried to run for president himself but was ruled ineligible by election officials.

                           ------------------------------------

Saudi security breaks up protest, witnesses say

(CNN) -- Security forces in Saudi Arabia arrested several people demonstrating at the interior ministry Sunday, putting them in police cars and buses to take them away, witnesses said.
Around 100 men had gathered to protest at the government office in the capital Riyadh, said activist Mohammed Al-Qahtani and another witness who did not want to be named to protect his safety.
The demonstrators were demanding the release of imprisoned relatives, the second such protest in as many weeks.
"They arrested a lot of people," said Al-Qahtani. "They started putting them in police cars and even buses to take them away."
Police dispersed the rest of the crowd, chasing some down alleyways, the two people said.
The Saudi government did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment.
Saudi Arabia has seen less unrest than many other Arab countries this year, but there have been a few small demonstrations amid growing dissatisfaction in the oil-rich U.S. ally.
Saudi King Abdullah promised a major package of reforms last week, but reform activists responded with disappointment Friday.
Other than a pledge to set up an anti-corruption agency, the activists said, King Abdullah promised little to meet their demands. Instead, the long list of new measures simply expands powers for the kingdom and the religious establishment.
"I feel disappointed, to say the least," said one Saudi activist who did not give his name for fear of reprisals. "I do believe after these decrees, instead of sweeping reforms, they'll start sweeping up the activists. I'm afraid there will be a crackdown on activists here."
After the king made his rare short speech, his spokesman went on the air for more than half an hour to announce the list of reforms -- one of which involves sanctions for any member of the media who does not respect the views of Muslim scholars and the Quran.
Other measures promise billions of dollars in housing for Saudi citizens, new hospitals and medical centers, and the refurbishment of public spaces.
Al-Qahtani, of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, said Friday the financial package was the easiest thing to propose.
"It's basically trying to buy out people so they won't go out into the streets," Al-Qahtani said. "It supports these repressive mechanisms."
Saudi Arabia, like other countries in the region, has seen increased demonstrations in recent months. Unlike other parts of the Middle East and North Africa, however, the demands of Saudi protesters are focused more on reforms and liberalization rather than demands for freedom or an end to the government's rule.
The long-time presidents of Egypt and Tunisia were toppled by protests this year, while the king of Jordan sacked his prime minister and appointed a new one. Libya has descended into civil war after opponents of leader Moammar Gadhafi took control of several cities, while security forces have attacked demonstrators in Bahrain.
Saudi King Abdullah promised $1,000 each month for job-seekers in the public and private sectors and vowed to speed up the job-seeking process.
He pledged to spend 250 billion riyals ($66.7 billion) on new housing across the kingdom and 16 billion riyals ($4.3 billion) to build hospitals or add to existing ones.
About 60,000 jobs will be created at the Interior Ministry, the king's spokesman said, and the government will promote all officers throughout the military and security sectors "who deserve it." Military housing will also be upgraded, he said.
About 500 million riyals ($133 million) will go toward refurbishing public spaces, the spokesman said. Organizations that help people learn the Quran will get 200 million riyals ($53 million), and another 100 million ($26.7 million) will be allocated for an Islamic studies institution.
The spokesman said 500 jobs would be created at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which must speed up the punishment of anyone involved in price-tampering.

                        -----------------------------------------

2 Palestinians killed by Israeli military

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Two Palestinians were killed overnight by Israeli forces in Gaza, an Israeli military spokeswoman said Sunday.

The two were identified by Israeli forces in the area who saw two suspicious figures approaching a security fence, the spokeswoman said. Israeli forces then opened fire, she said.
Palestinian medical officials confirmed that two Palestinians had been killed.
Also overnight, a Qassam rocket was fired into southern Israel, causing no injuries, the Israeli military said.
This latest incidents follows a day of surging violence between Israel and Hamas-run Gaza. Officials on both sides said the cross-border violence led to five injuries, including three Palestinian children who were seriously wounded.
According to an Israeli military spokeswoman, dozens of mortar shells were fired into southern Israel on Saturday, in the heaviest barrage of rocket fire since the end of the Israeli military offensive on Gaza in January 2009. Two Israeli citizens sustained minor injuries, she said. Israel said its military fired tank shells and used helicopter fire toward what they identified as the sources of the rocket fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Saturday night that he "views the Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians severely, and Israel will take all necessary measures to protect its citizens."
On the Arabic website of its military wing, Hamas took responsibility for firing of some of the several dozen rockets that were fired into Israel Saturday, saying the mortars were "a message ... to the Zionist enemy and in response to the incessant shelling over the past few days against our people," including the shelling that led to the two deaths.

                          -----------------------------------

I was in Hitler's suicide bunker

At his living room table, 92-year-old Rochus Misch shows me some of his old photo albums. Private pictures he had taken more than 60 years ago. There are colour images of Mr Misch in an SS uniform at Adolf Hitler's home in the Alps, snapshots of Hitler staring at rabbits, and photos of Hitler's mistress and future wife Eva Braun.
For five years, SS Oberscharfuehrer Rochus Misch had been part of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, as a bodyguard, a courier and telephone operator to the Fuehrer.
Rochus Misch
Rochus Misch spent years as part of Hitler's inner circle. Photo Rochus Misch
"My first meeting with Hitler was rather strange," Mr Misch recalls. "I'd been in the job 12 days when Hitler's chief adjutant, a man called Bruckner, started asking me questions about my grandmother, about my childhood.
"Then he got up and walked towards the door. Being an obedient soldier, I flung myself forward to open it, and there was Hitler standing right behind the door. I felt cold. Then I felt hot. I felt every emotion standing there opposite Hitler.
"In the Fuehrer's entourage, strictly speaking, we were bodyguards," says Mr Misch. "When Hitler was travelling, between four and six of us would accompany him in a second car. But when we were at Hitler's apartment in the Chancellery we also had other duties. Two of us would always work as telephone operators. With a boss like Hitler, there were always plenty of phone calls."
Last survivor
With the Allies advancing and Germany on the brink of defeat, Hitler retreated to his Berlin bunker. Rochus Misch was the telephone operator there.
"I worked in a small room with a telephone and teletype machine with outside lines," he remembers.
Hitler's HQ in eastern Poland
Hitler's HQ in eastern Poland was known as the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair). Photo: Rochus Misch
"There was only enough room to shelter one extra person in my room in the event of an air raid. The bunker really wasn't that big. It contained small rooms of only 10 to 12 square metres."
Rochus Misch is the last survivor of the Hitler bunker. He is the final witness of the drama that took place there on 30 April 1945. It was the day Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide.
"Suddenly I heard somebody shouting to Hitler's attendant: 'Linge, Linge, I think it's happened.' They'd heard a gunshot, but I hadn't. At that moment Martin Bormann, Hitler's private secretary, ordered everyone to be silent. Everyone began whispering. I was speaking on the telephone and I made sure I talked louder on purpose because I wanted to hear something. I didn't want it to feel like we were in a death bunker.
Deaths
Eva Braun at Hitler's Berghof
Eva Braun at The Berghof, Hitler's Alpine HQ. Photo Rochus Misch
"Then Bormann ordered Hitler's door to be opened. I saw Hitler slumped with his head on the table. Eva Braun was lying on the sofa, with her head towards him. Her knees were drawn tightly up to her chest. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white frills. I will never forget it.
"I watched as they wrapped Hitler up. His legs were sticking out as they carried him past me. Someone shouted to me: 'Hurry upstairs, they're burning the boss!' I decided not to go because I had noticed that Mueller from the Gestapo was there - and he was never usually around. I said to my comrade Hentschel, the mechanic: 'Maybe we will be killed for being the last witnesses.'"
The next day the drama continued. Down in the bunker, the six children of Germany's new leader - Joseph Goebbels - were drugged and murdered. It was their own mother Magda who killed them.
"Straight after Hitler's death, Mrs Goebbels came down to the bunker with her children," Mr Misch recalls. "She started preparing to kill them. She couldn't have done that above ground - there were other people there who would have stopped her. That's why she came downstairs - because no-one else was allowed in the bunker. She came down on purpose to kill them.
"The kids were right next to me and behind me. We all knew what was going to happen. It was clear. I saw Hitler's doctor, Dr Stumpfegger give the children something to drink. Some kind of sugary drink. Then Stumpfegger went and helped to kill them. All of us knew what was going on. An hour or two later, Mrs Goebbels came out crying. She sat down at a table and began playing patience."
Crimes
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill poses outside the Berlin bunker
Mr Misch fled Hitler's bunker just hours before it was seized by the Red Army. But he was quickly captured and spent the next nine years in Soviet labour camps. The captured "Fuehrerbunker" became a symbol of the Allies' victory in World War II.
Two months after the end of the war, Winston Churchill visited it. He posed for photos outside, sitting on a chair recovered from the shelter. In later years, the bunker was blown up to stop it becoming a Nazi shrine.
At the end of our conversation, I ask Rochus Misch whether he knew of the horrors that Adolf Hitler had unleashed across Europe. Did he know about the Holocaust?
"I knew about Dachau camp and about concentration camps in general," he tells me. "But I had no idea of the scale. It wasn't part of our conversations. The Nuremberg Trial dealt with crimes committed by the Germans. But you must remember there was never a war when crimes weren't committed, and there never will be."

                           -------------------------------------

 

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Contributors

Followers

LIVE CNN TV


Wait upto 1 minute to Watch CNN TV Live